Camp Blood: The Musical

Now most folk have their guilty secrets, for some it's boozing, for others its drugs or even for some a healthy dose of deviant sex…for me, it's time to confess, my names Al Sex Gore and I love musicals. But hey, in my defence we're not talking Oklahoma here (strike me down satan) but the more off the beaten track song and dance spectacular. In recent years that's included such fare as 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' (a punk rock musical classic), Richard O'Briens 'Mephistopheles Smith' (which I've caught live twice this year and been dragged happily up onstage both times to frolic with the Devilettes) and deviant teen musical 'Camp' (a sickly sweet flick with a healthy undercurrent of teen sex and geeks) so I wont deny in any way that I was very pleased indeed when a plain brown envelope arrived here at SGM with a DVDR inside simply scrawled on it "Camp Blood: The Musical"

Now anyone that knows me will also know that apart from my worrying love for musicals I have long had an unhealthy passion for the 'Friday the 13th' movies (so much so that in my younger days I used to cherish the days when Friday the 13th would roll round on the calendar as this would be reason alone for me to lock myself indoors to watch every goddamn movie in a back to back marathon of Voorhees slaughter that day). So with the thought of a musical that was wholly inspired by my favourite slasher series in my hands it was time to dim the lights and get ready to slash-a-long with 'Camp Blood'.

Produced, written and directed by the motley creative team of Tanner Barklow, Jefferson Craig and Thomas Hughes, 'Camp Blood: The Musical' follows six destined to die (ahem) teenage counsellors as they arrive at Camp Blood ahead of the guests arriving (sound familiar fright fans?) The teens comprise of the stock slasher combination; the wholesome virgin girl, the sporty jock, the skinny nerd, the goth chick, the slutty blonde and the stoner rock fan (check, all present and correct so sharpen those knives!) In true summer camp slasher style it's simply a case of let them get down to teen business (drug taking, screwing) and let the bloodletting begin…only this time round with some songs!

'Camp Blood: The Musical' is inevitably going to be a love it or hate it experience for any viewer. On one hand, it's a no budget (seemingly the budget was a massive $200 but most of that was spent on beer) car crash college production with death scenes any 10 year old could chuck together. On the other hand it's one of the most entertaining low budget indie performances to be put together and destined to be one of the finest sleeper hits in the underground scene.

My love for 'Camp Blood: The Musical' most definitely falls into the latter category. The small ensemble cast have a lot of fun with the production (and hey, I'll admit I thought leads Ashley Hanna and Emma Manion were very cute indeed) whilst some of the songs throughout are bang on the money ('When the Tops Come Off' is a hilarious take on the 'tits and ass' element of slasher movies whilst 'It's a Chase' had me laughing not only at the fine lyrics but the fun production values too).

The only down points about 'Camp Blood: The Musical' is that it only runs for a mere half hour long and the criminal fact that (due to its sporadic availability) most folk are not likely to ever get the chance to see it in all it's ludicrous glory. In an ideal world someone would be savvy enough to invest in a full length big budget 'Camp Blood: The Musical' feature complete with new improved gore (this would be the perfect vehicle for John Waters to spend some of his Hairspray remake residuals on) but till then you poor folk will have to make do with watching You Tube snippets through the 'Camp Blood: The Musical' webpage here - slashtastic!

Review by Alan Simpson